“Lessons from the Wilderness, pt.1 (Deuteronomy 1:6-2:25)" | 1/25/26
Deuteronomy 1:6-2:25 | 1/25/26 | Will DuVal
In sports (and I would add: “in LIFE”), they say you either WIN, or you “LEARN”. Perhaps that’s just a way of softening the blow of LOSING, nevertheless, I believe it most often proves TRUE - as they ALSO say - that you really DO “learn more from the LOSSES than you do from the WINS.” And I should KNOW; I belong to an extremely “well-LEARNED” fanbase, cheering for the Memphis Grizzlies, the Tennessee Titans, and the Vanderbilt Commodores, who’ve gone a combined 185 seasons, with ZERO championships, between my 3 teams.
Well, you know who ELSE should have been extremely “well-learned”? The ANCIENT ISRAELITES, God’s Old Testament people. Because as Moses is going to remind them this morning in chs 1 & the first half of 2 this morning, as they stand once AGAIN on the edge of the Promised Land, ready to HOPEFULLY prove themselves OBEDIENT this time around and finally cross OVER into the land God had promised their ancestors, such a WIN for Israel would only come after they’d suffered a long SERIES of LOSSES, insisting on learning their lessons the HARD way.
No parent wants that for our kids, do we? Learning the HARD way? If you could prevent your kids from having to make the same DUMB decisions, mistakes - the SINS - that you committed in YOUR past, and hopefully LEARNED from… but if you could just help them do the learning WITHOUT having to go through the LOSING…
That’s exactly what MOSES wants to do this morning, for this SECOND generation of Israelites now, post-Exodus from Egypt. The FIRST generation, you may recall (and if you don’t, Moses is gonna remind us in ch2, v14 here): they all died out. All those aged 20 and older who Moses had led OUT of Egypt, that “ENTIRE GENERATION”, save for two faithful men: Joshua and Caleb, they would ALL die out, during the 40 years that God made them wander in the wilderness as PUNISHMENT for their sinful disobedience and REBELLION. And NOW, Moses wants to make sure their KIDS and GRAND-kids have LEARNED from their mistakes, lest they repeat them.
But Moses’s reminders and WARNINGS here aren’t just for them; they’re for US as well. In the NEW Testament, 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul put it this way to the Church in HIS day: “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,[a] that our fathers… all passed through the sea, and were [led by] Moses… Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown[b] in the wilderness.6 [And then Paul adds:] Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did” (vv1-6).
And the same holds true for us TODAY as well, in the 21st c Church: the examples and warnings we find here in God’s word, and ESPECIALLY the lessons He wants us to LEARN from them: they are “for US”, that we might not “desire evil”, that we might not have to learn the HARD way, for ourselves.
So what ARE those lessons, that God’s been teaching Israel over these past 40 years now in the desert? Well, we’ll consider FOUR lessons together this morning in chs 1 and first half of 2, part one of this two-part sermon, and then God-willing (“and the snow don’t rise”), we’ll examine ANOTHER four lessons next Sunday in the REST of ch2 and then ch3. So let’s dive in!
Lesson #1) We must TRUST God’s PROMISES.
READ: (ch1:6-8)
““The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’
V6: “‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.” – can be either a very NEGATIVE experience (“you have grieved this loss long enough”)… OR a positive one (e.g., “mountaintop experience” at youth camp) - interestingly, Sinai represented BOTH to Israel (their adoption ceremony… but it was TERRIFYING!)
*Question in EITHER case: do you trust that God still has MORE in store for your life? (“how could life RECOVER from this?” OR “how could life get BETTER than this?”)
*God’s promise: (Jer 29:11) “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[b] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
*Q: “what ‘mountain’ may God be calling YOU to move on from?” (example: John Curlin when Dad left…)
V7: “Turn and take your journey” –
*God’s promise “the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Dt 31:6)
*Q: “where is he calling you to walk by FAITH, not by SIGHT today?” (ex: God moving us here from CULVER…)
V8: “See, I have set the land before you.”
*God’s promise of ETERNAL INHERITANCE! 1 Pet 1:3-5 “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation” (in other words: “I’ve set the Land BEFORE you!”)
*Question: “Are we living for THIS “land”, or the one to come?” (for money, stuff, importance, influence, for people, for happiness… or does all of that PALE in comparison to the glory that we know God has waiting in store for us?)
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READ: (ch2:24-25)
24 ‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’’”
Vv24-25: “I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite… I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples”
*God’s promise: VICTORY! 1 Cor 15:57 “thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
*Q: “Do we “contend in battle”, TRUSTING that God is also fighting for us, and therefore, we WILL prevail?” (ex? Fighting sin, but with the KNOWLEDGE, the “confident TRUST” that we HAVE been given the victory through Christ)
Here’s ANOTHER promise of God for you: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (Jn 10:27-28) – No sin, no ENEMY, will prevail over us. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” because “those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified”, therefore “If God is for us, who can be[i] against us? …What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom 8:1; 30; 35-37)
Repeat: Lesson #1) We must TRUST God’s PROMISES.
Lesson #2) We must SHARE God’s WORK.
READ: (1:9-18)
9 “At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! 12 How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? 13 Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14 And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. 17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
V9: “‘I am not able to bear you by myself.” – the first step in following God’s ordained division of labor is to RECOGNIZE your own LIMITS (ex: coaching Ellery’s soccer team years ago & needing crowd control (not to MENTION ELIJAH’S team!); now I’m coaching her BASKETBALL and I’m proactive (e.g., working SUBS into game))
Vv10-11: “you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you!” –
*Notice: they’re ALREADY as “numerous as the stars”, and yet, was Moses’ solution for leading/managing all of them to ask God to SHRINK the population? No! He prays just the opposite: “may God make you 1,000 times as many as you are today!”
*How about us, at West Hills? (God’s growing our church, and NONE of y’all better be praying that He slows down! That’s not God’s answer to the “problem” of GROWTH; He TELLS us His answer HERE: “share the load”; train up leaders, others who can help out!)
V12: “How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? ” – TBH, at 120 y.o., Moses kinda sounds here like a grumpy old man; kinda CROTCHETY, as he reminds Israel of their “burdenness” and “strife” (but to be FAIR, Moses has endured LOTS from them over the past 40 years…!)
Ex 15:22-27: bitter water → God made it drinkable
Ex 16: hungry → God sent manna
Ex 17:1-7: thirsty → God brought water from the rock
Num 11:1-3: “misfortunes” → God sent fire to consume
Num 11:4-35: no meat → God sent QUAIL
Num 16: why does Moses get to lead? → God swallowed Korah & mutineers up
Num 16: Why’d God kill Korah?! → God sent plague
Num 20: thirsty again → Moses strikes rock
Num 21: sick of manna & desert → fiery serpents
Num 25: idolatry & immorality w women of Peor → God sent plague
But most CONSEQUENTIAL rebellion (and actually, the only one Moses actually NAMES for them here, in the REMAINDER of ch1) was their faithless refusal to go up and take the Land in Num ch14; coming right back to it in pt#3 → God made them wander
V13a: “Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men…’”
Guzik: “Some think that the appointment of leaders described in Deuteronomy 1 referred to the appointment of Judges in Exodus 18. Some others believe it refers to the appointment of elders described in Numbers 11. It could possibly be either, but from the flow of Moses’ context in Deuteronomy 1, it seems best to consider that it was the appointment of elders in Numbers 11.”
*Hebrew: “wise, discerning, knowledgeable”
*knowledgeable: know God’s word (e.g., you know what God’s word says about DIVORCE)
* discerning: tell right from wrong, BASED on God’s word (e.g., BASED on that KNOWLEDGE, you’re able to discern whether or not this person’s desire for divorce is legitimate)
*wise: deciding on BEST COURSE OF ACTION, in light of discernment (e.g., you’re able to COUNSEL them in the best course of action, given their particular set of circumstances (even if divorce IS permissible, isn’t necessarily BEST; or it may NOT be biblical, but that still leaves the giant question: what NEXT? Where do we go from HERE?)
V14b: “I will appoint them as your heads.’...So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you”; requires all THREE parties’ cooperation:
MOSES had to be humble enough to delegate…
the LEADERS had to be committed enough to step up and shoulder some burden
The PEOPLE had to be trusting enough to recognize and submit to the leaders’ authority
APPLICATION:
NT cross-references:
1 Pet 4:10 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:” (quoted at every membership class)
1 Cor 12:7,12 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good… For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
**Announce: we need DEACONS (Mercy, Seniors, Finance, Welcome), need STAFF (Carol’s position); could really use ELDERS too!
Repeat: Lesson #2) We must SHARE God’s WORK. (Listen: “I’m not able to BEAR you all by myself!” I’m so grateful for our existing staff, elders, deacons, small group leaders, volunteers (setup/teardown; the REAL heroes of the past 4 weeks now)… but we really do need MORE. Will you share in the work?
Lesson #3) We must FOLLOW God’s INSTRUCTIONS.
Bulk of passage; READ: (1:19-2:3)
19 “Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. [Note: God had not only “invited” them; he had COMMANDED them to take the land] And we came to Kadesh-barnea.
Remember: v2 told us that was just “an 11-day journey”; getting from Sinai into Canaan should’ve taken less than TWO WEEKS! But, we read on…
v20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
Now this is where lesson #1 SHOULD’VE kicked in: TRUSTING God’s PROMISES – to GIVE them the land; to GO before them and FIGHT for them; to give them VICTORY. But INSTEAD…
v22 Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’
This is an important detail that the ORIGINAL version of the story back in Numbers 13 actually left out; in Num 13, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan…”, but NOW we discover here in Deuteronomy 1, that God was just ACCOMMODATING to Israel’s wishes… their FAITHLESS wishes at THAT (cf., God’s accommodation to their demand for a KING, in 1 Samuel 8… which will be PORTENDED in Deut ch17!)
Guzik: “God had told them that the land was good (Exodus 3:8, 13:5, Leviticus 20:24). Unless they did not believe the Lord, there was no reason to confirm this through their own investigation. God had also told them they would occupy the land of the nations living there (Exodus 3:17, 23:23). Unless they did not believe the LORD, there was no reason to even take a look at the enemies and see if God could defeat them.”
So before they even got to the point of REFUSING to go in and fight, they were already heading down the wrong path here…
v23 (Moses says) “The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe.
Et tu, Moses? Is it good enough that a plan SEEMS good to us? Or is all that matters whether or not that plan actually IS good in GOD’S eyes. Moses should’ve known better; he should’ve PUSHED BACK against the peoples’ wishes. But instead, he agreed to their plan, and he took it to God and asked for permission (and I suppose if we wanted to be charitable, we could say “Well, at least he did THAT!”; Moses could’ve sent the spies without even ASKING for God’s accommodating blessing; But again, we need to ask OURSELVES: “are we asking God to bless OUR plans, or are we seeking HIS will, His WAY? to follow HIS plan? Big difference!)
24 And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’
Interestingly, Moses doesn’t even MENTION the “BAD report” that the TEN spies gave; he only lists the GOOD report of Caleb & Joshua… probably cuz it’s the only one that should’ve MATTERED! Or perhaps the memory was so painful, Moses didn’t wanna relive it.
26 “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
Pause for a minute: Does that even make ANY sense? Why go to all the trouble? If God HATED them and wanted to DESTROY them, He could have much more easily just finished them off back in EGYPT! But they’re not thinking RATIONALLY; that’s what FEAR and ANXIETY can do to us: they cause us the LOGICAL side of our brains to freeze up. But Israel’s problem was worse than just a BRAIN freeze; their HEARTS had frozen up too (or, rather, “MELTED”):
v28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’
Okay, so NOW they reference the “bad report” given by the 10 spies. Who said: “WE can’t WIN; the PEOPLE are too BIG!”
Whereas Joshua & Caleb said, “We can’t LOSE; our GOD is much BIGGER! And remember: He promised to fight FOR us.” But friends, our enemy, Satan, wants you to REMEMBER what you should be FORGETTING, and to FORGET what we ought to REMEMBER.
He wants you to remember your old life of sin (and remember it FONDLY), your “former self” that you SHOULD be forgetting…
And he wants us FORGET all of God’s faithfulness in our lives thus far… AND His good PROMISES for the future, that we OUGHT to be remembering and CLINGING to. (The promises Moses tries to REMIND them of now in v29…)
29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
What a beautiful picture: God tenderly carrying them like you would a child. My son BO woke up in the middle of the night last night with a bad fever, and a croupy cough. I had to carry him to the bathtub… he was HELPLESS. God says: “That was YOU, Israel! Sick, weak, helpless. But don’t you remember how I CARRIED you, “bore you up on eagles’ wings” to do the IMPOSSIBLE - bring you OUT of Egypt - and then took care of you every step of the way, those first 2 years in the wilderness…”
v32 Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.
Moses says, “You followed him through the RED SEA! You followed him through the “great and terrifying” DESERT! But when that SAME fire & cloud - the Lord Himself - TRIED to lead you into the GOOD land, flowing with milk and honey… then you REFUSED to follow?! WHY??
Because “you did not BELIEVE the Lord” – I know I titled Lesson #3 “following God’s instructions”, but it really DOES come back to Lesson #1- “trusting His PROMISES”. Because at the heart of ALL SIN, friends, all disobedience, is DISBELIEF.
*Why do you try to CONTROL those around you, meddling and micromanaging? Because you don’t really trust GOD to be in control.
*Why do you keep going back to that guy - that LOSER - who God told you to dump years ago? Cuz you don’t really trust that He’s got someone BETTER for you… or that God HIMSELF is enough for you; you don’t NEED a man to “complete” you. You don’t really believe that in “HIS presence (God’s), there is FULLNESS of joy and pleasures forevermore.” (Ps 16:11)
And we could KEEP going down the list; EVERY sin, at its core, can really be traced back to DISBELIEF.
So I guess if I wanted to FLIP it and frame it POSITIVELY, I could say: “Take HEART, Christian: there is NO sin out there that can KEEP you from living the life that God wants for you… except for ONE: UNBELIEF.”
v34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, 35 ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ 37 Even with me [Moses charges now] the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
Now, at this point, Moses does seem to be guilty of engaging in a bit REVISIONIST HISTORY! He’s conveniently leaving out of his retelling of the story his OWN sin at Meribah, in Num 20:10-13, when he DID get angry at Israel, but his RESPONSE was to take it out on on this poor ROCK, a rock God had TOLD him to SPEAK to instead, and in the NT, Paul tells us “the rock WAS CHRIST!” It’s a weird story, but a deeply significant story. But I’m not gonna rehash it here, because MOSES doesn’t (and… TIME…). The only point I wanna point OUT about it here is that another person’s sin does NOT justify our own (ex: Bo spilling drink and me blowing up in anger)
v39 And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, [what does THAT remind you of? Maybe the “TREE of the knowledge of good and evil”, from Genesis 3? Why didn’t God want Adam & Eve to eat of the fruit? Because they shouldn’t have NEEDED that knowledge; they ought to have had “faith like a CHILD”, a child-like DEPENDENCY on God as their loving, providing Father, who they trust IMPLICITLY; and friends: so should WE! And Moses’ point HERE is to point out the IRONY that the very kids - YOUR kids - who you were so WORRIED about, trying to protect, God says, “They’re actually MY kids and I’M able to protect them WAY better than YOU can; actually YOU’RE all gonna die out in the wilderness and I’LL be the One to lead them safely home;] they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’
Now, if you thought maybe Israel had DISOBEYED ENOUGH at this point, and learned their LESSON… think again!
v41 “Then you answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ 43 So I spoke to you, and [AGAIN] you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. [They RETREATED when they should’ve FOUGHT, then FOUGHT when they should’ve RETREATED! It’s like they were HELL-BENT on rebellion…] 44 Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do [go figure: the “land of milk and HONEY” is filled with BEES!…] and they beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. 45 And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. [Be really careful: you refuse to listen to God for long enough, there may come a point in time when HE stops listening to YOU!] 46 So you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.
Okay, that’s a LONG and GRAPHIC way of Moses reminding us of this lesson: that we must FOLLOW God’s INSTRUCTIONS. When God says, “JUMP”, we ought to say, “how HIGH”? When he says, “FIGHT”, we say, “Here I am, Lord, send ME!”
Moses wants their KIDS, and he wants US, to learn from Israel’s mistake, from their DIS-obedience.
And what is the first STEP? If we’re on the wrong path, of DIS-obedience, in need of returning to THE LORD, following HIM? We talked about it LAST week in ch30 with the blessings and curses: the first step is: REPENTANCE! And fortunately for Israel, and for US, our faithlessness doesn’t have to be the final word; we read on in ch2 now…
2:1 “Then we turned [remember the word “repent” in Greek at least literally MEANS “to TURN”!] and we journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord told me. [FINALLY they are FOLLOWING God’s directions once again] And for many days [like, 13,870 days to be exact (well, we don’t know the EXACT timeline, but for roughly 38 years] we traveled around Mount Seir. 2 Then the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward…”
Friends: He’s a God of SECOND CHANCES. Lamentations 3 promises, “the Lord will not cast off forever,
32 for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love”
And actually, He’s way more GRACIOUS even than SECOND chances; He’s a God of TENTH… HUNDREDTH chances! I’ve lost COUNT of all Israel’s grumblings and mini-rebellions at this point. But much more than THAT, I’ve lost track of my OWN faithless rebellions at this point. And I bet YOU have too, with YOURS. But once again, here’s his invitation to us this morning: “will you trust in my good promise to you? That 2 Tim 2:13 – even “if we are faithless, he remains faithful”.
But friends it all BEGINS with the first STEP… of REPENTANCE. Turning from our sin, and RE-turning to the LORD: Isaiah 55:6 ““Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way…
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
[return] to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
One more interesting fact to note here, before we move on and END with Lesson #4, and that is: these events at Kadesh Barnea that Moses retells here, they unfolded over the course of just 2 weeks, and yet they consume 27 verses of the story, whereas Israel spent 38 years in the wilderness which Moses only spent ONE verse on, there to open ch2. And I think the takeaway is: seemingly small decisions, and can have MASSIVE implications and ripple effects in our lives for YEARS to come, can’t they? They say it takes a LIFETIME to build your reputation (or your MARRIAGE, your BUSINESS, your INTEGRITY…), and just a single MOMENT to destroy it.
Friends… We must FOLLOW God’s INSTRUCTIONS.
Finally, #4) We must PURSUE God’s BEST. (2:4-23)
I.e., refuse to SETTLE for LESS!
That’s the main thrust of vv4-23 now; God’s gonna test Israel now THREE times (really FOUR, because remember in vv24 & 25 He’s gonna call them to prepare to FIGHT again against SIHON of Heshbon, but BEFORE that, he calls them to the OPPOSITE - NOT to fight, against three different potentially HOSTILE nations: Edom, Moab, and Ammon); first: EDOM in vv4-8:
4 and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, [Israel aka Jacob’s BROTHER…] who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. 5 Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6 You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. 7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’ 8 So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber.
Don’t “contend” with them; WHY? Three reasons:
First, God says, “I’ve given that land to ESAU; you’re not the ONLY nation I have plans for, Israel!” (all of vv4-23 point us to God’s SOVEREIGNTY over ALL nations – “He sits enthroned… it is in his power to exalt kings and to remove them…”; Acts 17:26-28; 2 Chr 20:6; Dt 32:8; Jer 18:1-10; 27:1-7));
Second: I want you to “BUY” what you need from them, so you won’t OWE them anything, but ALSO as proof that I have been faithful to take CARE of you; that you “lack NOTHING”.
But third and MOST importantly, God says, “don’t mess with Edom” because I’ve got a BETTER land waiting for you! Don’t SETTLE for second BEST.
Similar lesson now with the Moabites and Ammonites; v8 continues:
“And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’ [Abraham’s nephew…] 10 (The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, [Heb: “giants”] but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.) [Again: ALL emphasizing God’s SOVEREIGNTY; he moves the nations like CHESS pieces on the GAME board] 13 ‘Now rise up and go over the brook Zered.’ So we went over the brook Zered. 14 And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15 For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.
16 “So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’ 20 (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim— 21 a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites,[a] and they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22 as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. 23 As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, [we think that’s the PHILISTINES…] who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)
Again, the real LESSON here is: don’t SETTLE for LESS than God’s very BEST for you.
Friends: where might God be saying that to US, to YOU, this morning? (examples?)
CONCLUSION: [[end with the GOSPEL…]] What about when we DON’T? When we…
*FAIL to “trust God’s promises”, and like Israel, we faithlessly shrink back, or try and take matters into our OWN hands instead? What about when we…
*FAIL to “share God’s work”, and you lazily buy into the world’s version of “church”, where you get to be passive and pay ME, US (staff) to do all the work? Or when I fail to share the work and delegate, because of MY trust issues and perfectionism? What about when we…
*FAIL to follow God’s instructions? And do it OUR way in OUR strength instead? Or we…
*FAIL to pursue God’s best, and we SETTLE?
Is there any HOPE for us?! Friends: can I be a “Moses” for you this morning and remind you not ONLY of the BAD news, that you really are more sinful and rebellious than you probably let yourself remember and realize…
But I ALSO get to remind you of the GOOD news: that you are at the SAME time more LOVED and FORGIVEN than you could have ever imagined or thought possible. Not because of YOUR faith, YOUR work, YOUR obedience, or YOUR faithful-NESS, to pursue God’s best and not settle…
But because of JESUS’s faithfulness to YOU; HIS work on the cross for YOU; HIS obedience to God’s plan, even when it cost him his LIFE…
The BIGGEST lesson you and I need to learn from “the wilderness” - both ISRAEL’s wandering and our OWN - is that friends: we need a SAVIOR! And praise God: we HAVE one.
Won’t you trust in Jesus today?
Let’s pray…